Morgana
("Morgana" redirects here. For the episode, see Morgana (episode)) Queen Morgana is a major character in Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, ''where she is the main antagonist of the series' second season where the Fortune Jewel describes as her as "a great witch out of legend". She was voiced by Deborah Allison. Her and Lady Kale later inspired the character of Dark Sorceress in ''Avalon: Web of Magic. ]] The darkly beautiful, mysterious, and sinister Morgana was once the Queen of the Wild Magic and a leader of the ancient wizards who have been eliminated by the good wizard Merlin 1,000 years prior to the events of the show. Introduced in "Revenge of the Dark Stone", she first appears in person in the titular episode "Morgana" as she and Lady Kale make a deal to work together against the Jewel Riders. Morgana hopes to find the Wizard Jewels, get her vengeance upon Merlin, and finally conquer Avalon. "That's the trouble with you Jewel Riders, always thinking of others first. That is your weakness and my strength!" In the series Background see Morgana's ancient hologram message in her lair in "Revenge of the Dark Stone"|left]] A thousand years ago, Morgana the Sorceress was the treacherous leader of ancient wizards, as well as the original creator and wielder of the Dark Stone. However, together with the other wizards, she had been defeated and banished in the form of dispersed energy into Wild Magic by Merlin after they had had conspired against him in order to take over the magic of Avalon and use it for evil. Since then, all that that seemed to have remained of Morgana has been a legend—until now. and Morgana fight over the control of the Dark Stone in "Morgana"]] "|left]] The enchantress returns with a vengeance in the show's second season when the Dark Stone restores her physical form in her lair after both the jewel and her palace went into the Wild Magic in the final episodes of the first season. Unable to control her Dark Jewel anymore, Morgana is forced to allied herself with Lady Kale, a wicked would-be Queen of Avalon and like her too a sworn enemy of Merlin, lending Kale extra power so she can collect all the lost Wizard Jewels for Morgana to destroy Merlin and rule Avalon and Wild Magic in his place. (But alone, as there is no love between them, and Kale also secretly plots to betray her in turn.) "]] Now, Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders must fight to prevent this and overcome her dark magic, so the hopefully returning Merlin may be able do away with Morgana again (but this time make sure she will remain history). During their adventures, the girls and their friends (especially Gwen's beloved Prince Ian) have several very dangerous confrontations with the powerful evil sorceress, both in Avalon and in other realms, as Morgana is appearing either alongside Kale (in Avalon) or alone (in the other realms that Kale can not access as she has no help from the Gliders). File:Morgana 26.png|Morgana's holographic image summoned by Kale in "Morgana" Morgana 24.png|Morgana tempting Ian for his Jewel in "Prince of the Forest" Jewel Box 2.png|Morgana with the Jewel Box in "Lady of the Lake" Abilities "]] Like Merlin, Morgana actually does not need a jewel for her spells as they both are able to channel the magical energies with their very hands, but hers is mostly purple like the Dark Stone's. She is furthermore able to use her hair as magic tendrils. She can float in the air and is also seated on a flying throne during some episodes. Similar to the Jewel Riders and Queen Anya in the Jewel Keep, Morgana has a device in her lair for detecting (but not precisely locating) magical jewels inside the Wild Magic. In "Spirit of Avalon", Morgana finally leaves the Wild Magic physically when she absorbs enough of magical energies from the myst surrounding the Heart of Avalon after Kale gets there. In "The Last Dance" she also briefly takes a mermaid form, described in the episode's script as "sea witch". Morgana 17.png Morgana 15.png Morgana 6.png Morgana 2.png Morgana 11.png File:Morgana Sierra.png Appearances "Revenge of the Dark Stone" (cameo), "Morgana", "Shadowsong, "Fashion Fever", "Vale of the Unicorns", "Prince of the Forest", "The Wizard of Gardenia", "Mystery Island", "The Fortune Jewel", "Spirit of Avalon", "The One Jewel" Fate being again defeated by Merlin in "The One Jewel"]] In the end, Merlin uses the power of the ultimate One Jewel, provided by Princess Gwenevere, to defeat Morgana once and for all. She gets trapped in magic forge and seemingly annihilated completely, leaving no trace of her and the four ghosts of other evil wizards: "''The forge shrinks, shrinks and vanishes taking Morgana and the other wizards with her."The Last Dance (script) Behind the scenes Development Morgana was voiced by Deborah Allison in English, Françoise Cadol in French, and Aleksandra Cucic in Serbo-Croat. She was loosely inspired by the Arthurian character of Morgan le Fay (often known as Morgana, among a variety of other names). Morgana did not appear in the series' 1994 Show Bible and was only later created for the toy series, even as no toys of her have been ever actually produced. Art director Gret Autore said: "When the second set of episodes was turned on, the only two directions to start with were – 1) Search for wild magic jewels since the first set was all found 2) Use Morgana as the ultimate villainess instead of Lady Kale."Greg Autore and the Toy Design of Jewel Riders - Part Two - The Jewel Riders Archive In her concept art pictures, she was was yet unnamed and yellow-skinned. In the never-released action figure, "her long skirt was to be molded and would open up to be a hovering throne she used to fly around in."Greg Autore and the Toy Design of Jewel Riders - Part One - The Jewel Riders Archive In the show, she is wearing long boots under her skirt (as it can be seen in the screenshot below). File:Morgana Knights of Justice.jpg|Morgana from ''King Arhur and the Knights of Justice (an earlier series from the same studio) File:Morgana 34.png|Morgana's boots visible as she and Kale flee Ian's wrath in "Prince of the Forest" Legacy ]]Together with some aspects of Kale, Morgana later inspired the character of the Dark Sorceress who serves the main antagonist of ''Avalon: Web of Magic. ] Gallery Morgana 33.png | Morgana Morgana 20.png | Prince of the Forest Morgana 16.png Morgana 13.png | The Wizard of Gardenia Morgana 7.png Morgana 12.png | The Fortune Jewel Morgana 19.png | Lady of the Lake Morgana 3.png | The One Jewel Morgana 29.png See also * Morgana (episode) * List of characters References External links * [http://parrotbeak.tumblr.com/post/144215163867/i-received-the-suggestion-to-make-a-comparison Morgana compared to Lady Kale (as well as to Morgana from King Arthur and the Knights of Justice ''and Jana from ''Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic)] (fan analysis by PB) * Jewel Rider Project - Morgana (fan redesign by Bluelily) Category:Ancient wizards Category:Evil characters Category:Female characters Category:Main characters Category:Non-humans Category:Witches Category:Second season